Science Media Centre

With a warmer future set to hit our Pacific neighbours hardest, is there still a chance to turn the tide? The first ever conference on climate change and the Pacific, ‘In the Eye of the Storm‘,  is being held this week in Wellington at Victoria University. The conference brings together Pacific community representatives, scientists, artists, politicians […]

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has released the first segment of the long awaited Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) summing up the current state of climate science and the global outlook regarding climate change. Government representatives and scientists have approved the Summary for Policymakers of the first part of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report, subjecting […]

Research led by a New Zealand scientist has revealed the major cause behind the significant melting of the West Antarctica ice sheet at the end of the last glacial age. The retreat was caused primarily by ocean warming (rather than rising sea levels), and the study’s lead author, Dr Andrew Mackintosh, says it suggests there […]

Martin Johnston writes in the New Zealand Herald about research from Victoria University suggesting that roll-your-own cigarettes (rollies) might be more expensive than their ‘tailored’ counterparts. This could be due to rollies having a higher tar/nicotine ratio, with tar also containing a number of addictive elements. An excerpt: (read in full here) “Dr Lewis said […]

Annabelle Jackman reports for 3 News on a recent paper, written by University of British Columbia scientists, which predicts that New Zealand will have lost most (75% or more) of its glaciers by 2100. The regions and countries likely to be most affected are Europe and New Zealand, with Greenland experiencing some of the least […]

A next-gen Tamagotchi has been developed by VUW researchers and a US colleague, and features a living microorganism (a Tardigrade) in a plastic casing, with which its owners can interact both virtually and in real life. The project, called the Tardigotchi, was awarded first prize in the digital language category at the 2010 Electronic Language […]

Paul Gorman writes in The Press about work by international scientists, to take place on NZ’s West Coast, aiming to understand how large faults evolve and generate earthquakes. The scientists will drill down into the Alpine Fault on the South Island – one of only a few such sites in the world. An excerpt: (read […]

Tom Hunt writes for the Dominion Post about the gift by Gayl Gentile of her husband Alan MacDiarmid’s nobel prize medal to VUW. The gift was made at the opening yesterday of the new Alan MacDiarmid Building, which will be used by science students. An excerpt: (read in full here) “The medal would sit in […]

David Williams writes in The Press about a local academic’s view that Prime Minister John Key may have unrealistic expectations for technology’s ability to mitigate emissions in New Zealand. Geoff Bertram says that international oil and gas prices will have a far greater effect on New Zealand’s emissions than the ETS. An excerpt: (read in […]